IT Job Hunting: Do Social Nets Help?

So you have tons of connections on LinkedIn, Facebook, Spoke, Plaxo, etc. But do they actually help you find a new job? Recent news on record-high IT employment made for big headlines, and for CIO Insight readers, a hot discussion topic.

A lot of that discussion emanated from out-of-work IT pros, who wrote about their difficulties in finding new employment. One reader suggested networking: "It is not what you know, and who you know. It is who knows you," he wrote.

Then comes this story on social networking overload. The writer, Eve Tahmincioglu, rightly says that it's "not humanly possible" to rack up tons of contacts on every social network. But those unemployed IT pros might have more time on their hands to do so.

I'm on LinkedIn, but I haven't used it for job hunting. But I am confident that, if the need arises, I'll be able to use my contacts to hopefully find new gainful employment.

But what about you IT pros? Have you successfully used social networks to get a new job? Have you tried and found it useless? Let us know.

Yes, social neworking works. no matter how smart you are, if you dont know where are the right openings
if one is getting paid for what he is worth for then why laid off. Outsourcing is happening.. ha ha.. doesnt want to get into argument
well I found job from my friends and managers i worked with before.

I'm using linkedin and a couple of industry-specific contact groups there. I've also got on some occupation- and industry- specific networking sites and discussion boards, and I've joined a couple of trade organizations.
I'm looking to improve my LONG TERM job hunting prospects though, so I'm not expecting immediate results. I just started an MBA program, and I'm hoping the work put in now will mature around the time I'm done with it.
- Kevin

Brian, there was a landmark study by Mark Granovetter called Getting a Job, in about 1976. He showed that over 80% of all jobs were found through personal networks. If linked-in can help you keep your personal network energized, it must help with job finding. Of course, you can overdue it and it won't make a sow's ear into a silk purse, as my gradmother used to say.
john